Pages

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Well hello Wednesday, so glad that you are here! I typed up this post last night and they were calling for 10cm of snow overnight and into today, so my fingers are crossed that it hasn’t landed by the time I get up this morning. At least it’s not supposed to be super cold again yet.

Last week, I asked everyone to leave a comment asking me anything you wanted to know about me, so today will be the answer part

The first and most important things you must know about me are: I love Diet Coke {buy me one and you’ll be my friend forever}, size 4 at lululemon and size small in Nike dri fit socks Now onto your questions:

Anna asked me: what brought you to find running and decide that it was your sport? I started running before my August 2010 wedding as a way to help shed some pounds. I didn’t seriously start getting into it until after the wedding when I had more time to train. I would say that I really started getting serious about it in January of this year when I started working on a base and on my training plan for my first half marathon. I love running because it keeps me sane, helps keep the pounds down and can be fun! Plus it’s not something that I need a lot of stuff for or the gym, so I can basically do it anytime (weather permitting of course!)

Nicole asked me: did you do any sports or activities in high school/growing up? Growing up, I played mostly soccer. In my small town, kids often played t-ball and soccer at a young age. I started to play t-ball, but couldn’t hit it off the tee so I stopped shortly after that (sad, but true story). I kept playing soccer until two years ago. In high school, I also played field hockey which was a lot of fun. Our team was known for doing really well and we had awesome coaches. It was an awesome experience to be on that team!

Nicole asked: other than your family, do you miss living in Ontario? Yes and no. I miss my small home town, but not sure I would want to live there right now. I also miss the warmer temperatures in the summer, having access to beaches & lakes and the not as cold winters! But, I also love being so close the mountains here and not dying of heat stroke in the summer!

Nicole asked: what's the worst thing that Harley has destroyed in your house? (Other than your unmentionables!) We have actually been pretty lucky with Harley not destroying too many things of ours. For some reason, it has mostly been my stuff. He has destroyed two sandals (from different pairs), the clasp on a Nike dri fit hat, some underwear of mine and a shirt of Brian’s. I think the worst was that he got into my purse one time and started chewing on a tube of lip gloss on the carpet, which has now left wonderful stains on the carpet. That would have to be the worst.

Brittany asked: who was your biggest crush in public school?I should first explain that Brittany and I grew up in the same small town and reconnected through blogging last year I would have to say Josh F, Brandon F or Kody Y. If I wasn’t such a tomboy in my younger years, maybe one of them would have liked me back!! {ps- this is my younger brother and I. Just trying to highlight how I was a tomboy}

Lisa asked: do you go the speed limit or do you have a lead foot? I used to be the biggest speeder in the world especially living in Ontario! Mr.D still gives me a hard time about how fast I used to drive when he would come to visit me, haha. Since moving to Alberta, I don’t speed as much as there are photo radar vehicles that sit out catching speeders and I have a fear of getting a ticket. I still can’t stand people who go under or just on the speed limit in the fast lane. Move over!

Lisa asked: when you were young, what did you think you were going to do for a living? The only thing that sticks out in my mind is that I wanted to be a midwife for the longest time. I gave up on that dream when I didn’t get into the program in university. It definitely is not your typical career choice as a young adult!

Tell me: something about yourself that I don’t know or that people wouldn’t know about you

This week in the crossfit class, we learned about overhead squats, kettle bell swings and split jerks.

First up is the overhead squat. It is pretty self explanatory as it is a regular squat except that you have a bar with weights over your head. The important things to remember is to have your arms straight in a v form over head and to ensure that your armpits are ‘showing’ to others. That means that you have to focus on pushing them up and out. I was hurting for the two days after doing these!

Next is the kettle bell swing, which you can do with either a kettle bell or a dumbbell. You will place the kettle bell between your feet with your feet hip width apart. You want to focus on picking up the kettle bell with your legs and butt first, and not your back. Once you pick it up, you will swing it up overhead or to chest height depending on your move. You will want to focus on popping the hips and squeezing the butt as you are coming up on the swing.

Lastly is split jerks. To start, you will have your feet hip width apart with a bar racked on your shoulders. This is the racked positioning:

Once you have the bar in that position, you will dip down while jumping into the lunge position while also pushing the bar straight up overhead. Once the bar is in the overhead position, you will move your back foot in first, then your front foot in and then bring the bar back down to the racked position. The end result looks like this:

Monday, November 28, 2011

This weekend was relaxing, homebody-ish and windy! The one good part of a Calgary winter is that we get chinooks. The bad part? Chinooks bring crazy amounts of wind with them and yesterday was no exception!

{friday} Once we both got home for work, we took Harley for a run. It actually was kind of nice out with a little bit of a cold wind. After our run, we went to pick up sushi and enjoyed it at home. We also watched the movie Friends with Benefits….such a cute movie, but I love a good sappy movie. Has anyone seen it?

{saturday} The morning was spent dilly dallying around the house and cleaning out random cupboards to get rid of some junk. Feels good to do that! In the afternoon I had my crossfit class and then took Harley for a long walk as it was gorgeous out. The rest of the day was spent hanging out around the house and watching Drugs Inc on National Geographic. It was a quite interesting show and made me really want to never do drugs. Not that I ever wanted to to begin with!

{sunday} In the morning, I met up with Alison and Nicole to volunteer at a local race. It was a smaller race and we helped out with the food inside, but it was still a lot of fun! Plus we got some girl time in

The rest of the day was spent cleaning up, walking Harley and taking another glorious two hour nap! I am really on a role with these naps!

Friday, November 25, 2011

Happy Friday everyone! This week went fast for me, but I am still happy to see Friday come around :) Last night, I fell asleep on the couch for close to 2 hours, woke up and went straight to bed without a problem. Apparently I was tired and needed to sleep! I don't usually nap during the week, but last night was fabulous.

This weekend, we actually don't have any plans. I have my crossfit class on Saturday and then on Sunday, I am volunteering at a local race with Nicole and Alison. It is supposed to be nice out, so fingers crossed the weather stays that way! Other than that, I am hoping to go pick up some more ornaments for the tree as they are 50% off and I could use some more.

Hope you have a fabulous weekend everyone!

Tell me: what do you have planned for the weekend?

ps- make sure if you want to learn something about me, you leave a comment on yesterday's post :)

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Hi everyone! Just wanted to put one last reminder out there for people who are participating in the Christmas swap with Lindsey and I. Your packages are to be mailed out to your partner by Friday November 25, 2011 (so two days from now!) and I will be doing a link up on Wednesday December 7, 2011, so make sure you do a post about your package before then. If anyone has any questions, please let me know :)

**************************************************************

I haven't done one of these for a while, so I thought I would open it up and let you comment asking me anything you have ever wanted to know about little ol' me. Ask me anything about running, my husband, my cute puppy dog, anything really! I have done this before and you can find my answers here and here.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

I know there are a few of you out there participating in the holiday bootie buster challenge and I am excited to see your updates each week. I decided that I will be doing a weekly update of my points and workouts for the week, so I can keep track.

In my last two cross fit classes, we learnt about push press, pull ups, deadlifts and high pulls.
First up is the push press. For this exercise, you have your feet hip width apart and a dumbbell (or bar) in each hand. The import thing to remember is that before you push the weights or bar upwards, you have to slightly dip down and then pop your hips to help push the weight toward the ceiling. You are aiming to have your arms straight at the top of the exercise. Here is a picture to help describe it:

The second exercise is pull ups. For this workout, we used the different bands to help aid us with the pull ups. There isn’t much to explain with pull ups except that if you are using a band, you have to make sure you don’t kick your legs out and that they stay straight down to the floor. You can also have whatever grip feels comfortable to you.

The next workout is deadlifts, which are killer! For this workout, you will be using a bar and you want to ensure that to start the lift, you have the bar lined up with your shoe laces.In order to do it right, your shins will be very close to the bar on the way up and down through the movement and might even get banged up in the process. You also have to ensure that you are lifting with your legs and not your back. Here is a great picture to help explain the movement:

The last exercise was a sumo deadlift high pull done with a kettle bell. To start the exercise, you have your feet hip width apart with the kettle bell in between your feet. You will squat down, pop your hips up and pull the kettle bell up to your chin. Remember to keep your elbows out and not straight up.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Is it just me or has November flown by?! I can’t believe it’s almost over already.

{friday} I had the day off from work and I started my day by sleeping in. Perfect way to start a day off if you ask me! Later in the morning, I went to the gym and then took Harley for a walk. Did I mention that it was –16C without the wind chill? It was seriously cold! I spent the rest of the afternoon wrapped up with a blanket on the couch. Mr.D and I went out for dinner to a new to us restaurant called Fergus & Bix. We weren’t sure what to expect, but it was fantastic! We definitely recommend it if you are in the Calgary area

{saturday} The day was spent helping Alison & Justin move into their new house! It was a cold move, but glad they got everything into their new house. In between moving, I went to crossfit, which was a great workout again. After everything was moved, we dognapped Cruz and brought her to our house to play with Harley for a little bit as he was locked up all day. They are seriously cute together!

After their playtime, we went back to A&J’s house for dinner, so thank you again guys! Later that night, we watched the movie The Kingdom. It was pretty good!

{sunday} I spent the day cleaning around the house and running a few errands. Not sure how my Sunday’s always end up like that

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Your packages are to go out to your partner by Friday November 25, 2011, so everyone can have their package by the beginning of December.

Second

On Wednesday December 7, 2011, I will be putting up a link on my blog for everyone to add their post with their packages to. That should give everyone enough time to receive their package and to do a post on their blog with the fun contents of it :)

ThirdIf you have any questions at all, please feel free to send me or Lindsey an email :)

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Last week, I only had one crossfit class due to the long weekend because of the Remembrance Day holiday.

In the Tuesday class, we were taught about front squats and wall balls. Both seem easy, but they are an amazing workout!

The front squats were basically a regular squat except that you have a weighted bar across the front of your shoulders. The main thing to remember is that you have to roll the bar back onto your finger tips while ensuring that your elbows are staying as high as possible.

Here is a picture example:

Wall balls are done using a weight padded ball that come in different weights from 6lbs to 20lbs. Using the ball, you throw it against the wall above a marked line and then catch it and throw it again using a squat. Probably not the best explanation, but hopefully the picture below helps.

The workout of the day for this class was three rounds of the following for time:

400m row 15 wall balls 15 sit ups

The workout took me 10:50 and it was tough! Can’t wait for the next class

Monday, November 14, 2011

Oh Monday, I was hoping you were going to come so quickly again But, I have another short work week, so I can’t complain too much.

This weekend, my mom was in town and it was fabulous to spend time with her. She got in later on Thursday night, so we didn’t do much besides catch up with each other.

On Friday, we decided to spend the day in Canmore, which is about 45 minutes from us. Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating with us as it was windy, cold and overcast.

After checking out some of the stores, we decided to go for a late lunch at the Iron Goat. Such a pretty location (the view above was from our table) and it had a huge stone fireplace. I’d like one of those in my house

On Saturday, my mom and I spent the day doing some Christmas crafts. While we were in Canmore, we saw some gorgeous and expensive ornaments and we decided to recreate them. One trip to Dollarama and a couple hours later, this is what we came up with :

I love it! It’s Christmassy and I can definitely change it up after the holiday season.

The rest of the weekend was spent watching movies, taking Harley for walks and just hanging out. It was the perfect weekend Tell me: how was your weekend? What were you up to?

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Happy faux Friday everyone! Not sure how it works elsewhere, but in Canada (Alberta at least) we have tomorrow off for Remembrance Day. Kind of nice to have a long weekend even though it’s for good and bad reasons.

This Thursday, I am happy about:

{one} my mom is flying in tonight until Sunday! So excited to see her

{two} That I have tomorrow off as well as the following Friday. I’ve mentioned it before, but I bank time during the week which allows me to have every third Friday off with pay. My earned day off fell on tomorrow which is a stat, so my boss let me have next Friday off instead. Quite excited!

{three} I bought myself a little treat last night in the form of these:
So comfortable and can’t wait to try them at crossfit next week!

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

I decided to do something a little different for {what i’m loving} Wednesday this week. Instead of listing things that I am loving, I thought I would list some recipes that we have tried recently and have loved.

Place the oil in a large pot or Dutch oven set over medium heat. When hot, add onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic and cook 5 to 6 minutes, until softened. Mix in remaining ingredients and bring to a gentle simmer. Partially cover and simmer about 45 minutes, until the chili is richly flavoured, thickened and bubbly. Taste the chili and add salt and pepper to taste, if needed. Serves 8-10.

This made enough for a dinner and lunch for both of us plus enough to freeze for another dinner and lunch for both of us. Perfect meal to make on the weekend and freeze for a week night meal.

Pumpkin sticky buns

Put 2 tbsp butter, 1/4 cup brown sugar and 2 tbsp maple syrup into a 8 inch square or 9 inch round pan , then put in the oven and turn on to 350F to preheat.

In a large bowl, stir together 2 cups flour, 2 tbsp brown sugar, 1tbsp baking power and 1/4 tsp salt.

Ingredients:
2 cups dried pasta
2 cups 2% milk
1 cup loosely packed shredded cheddar cheese
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dijon mustard (I left out the mustard and it was still delicious)Directions: In a small saucepan, add pasta and milk. Bring to simmer, then reduce heat to low and cook for 20 minutes, until pasta is soft, stirring frequently and ensuring milk does not boil. Turn heat off, add cheese & salt & and stir to combine. Stir in the mustard a little at a time to taste. Cover and let stand for about 5 minutes, then stir again and serve.
If you would like to bake it at this point, place in a baking dish and top with a generous sprinkling of cheese. Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 10 minutes until cheese has melted.
Makes enough for 4 people with no leftovers (can easily be doubled).

After I made it in the saucepan, I put it into a casserole dish with bread crumbs on top and baked it. Seriously delicious!

Tell me: what recipes have you been loving recently? Do you have any good crock pot recipes?

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

On Saturday, I started my intro to crossfit course, which runs twice a week for a month. I decided that I would do a bit of a run down of each class and list the workout that we did in the class. Hopefully it helps someone out there

This week, we learnt about the proper way to do a squat in crossfit. Let me tell you, my legs were killing the next day so they definitely work! The major things to remember are:

stand with your feet about shoulder width apart and toes slightly out

keep your head up and looking straight forward

ensure that your knees do not go over your toes

ensure that the natural curve in your spine is maintained (do not bend forward as you squat down)

make sure that your weight is in your heels and not in your toes

as you descend, put your arms up and out (ensure that you are looking straight ahead)

at the bottom of the squat, go below parallel (parallel being your knees and hips in line)

as you rise up out of the squat, ensure you are coming straight up and standing tall before starting your next squat

Here is a great video to explain it more, if the instructions above don’t make sense.

The workout that we did on Saturday was a tabata mash up. It consisted of:

squats

pushups

jumping pull ups

sit ups

You do each exercise for 20 seconds with 10 seconds of rest in between for the desired number of rounds. We did 4 rounds on Saturday and it was tiring!

Tell me: have you ever tried Crossfit? If not, would you ever take a course like I am?

Monday, November 7, 2011

This weekend was quiet, relaxing and perfect Having zero plans was just what we both needed.

{friday} After work, we took Harley for a walk and it was chilly! It had snowed overnight, so things were still snow covered. After the walk, we ordered pizza and spent the night wrapped up on the couch with a movie and the fireplace on. Perfect Friday night!

{saturday} In the morning, I did stuff around the house and then headed out to my first crossfit class. I was a little nervous going into it, but the instructors were super nice and went through a few exercises. They taught us how to properly do squats and my legs were killing on Sunday! After the crossfit class, I had some running around to do while Mr.D put the snow tires on the car. Later in the afternoon, we took Harley for a long walk and then spent the night hanging out. We watched Horrible Bosses, which was hilarious! Definitely recommend watching it.

{sunday} Another lazy day around our house! I made a quick trip to The Shoe Company as I was looking for a new pair of black boots. I got lucky and found a pair that was on clearance for $50 plus 25% off. When the cashier rang them up, they were actually $29.99 plus 25% off, coming to $23. Love surprise deals like that! In the afternoon, I took Harley for a run and made crock pot chicken taco soup.

Oh and Harley got ready for Christmas:

I think these ears might make it onto our Christmas card this year if we can get him to cooperate

Friday, November 4, 2011

Hello Friday! I love it when you come around each week. Minus the part that you are supposed to bring snow with you today. I don’t like that.

This weekend, we have zero plans. There are only two things I have to do: go to my first crossfit class on Saturday and pick up some pants from the tailors. I mentioned it on Twitter, but the other day at work, I discovered a hole in the crotch of my pants. Awesome! An emergency run home was definitely made!

*******************************************************

The other day, the fabulous Stacie gave me a blogging award, so I thought I would pass it along

The rules of the award:

1) Thank the person who nominated you 2) Share 7 random things about yourself 3) Pass the award along to others

So, thank you Stacie and here we go:

1. I absolutely hate the dentist. I get super nervous even to get a simple cleaning.

2. I have a terrible fear of needles. The last time I had blood taken, I puked right after. Pretty I know. It makes me really nervous to be pregnant for all of the blood tests that you have to do.

3. My favorite kind of chips are all dressed. It’s the only kind Mr.D will buy for me if he goes to the store to get us chips.

4. People always think I have bigger boobs then I actually do. I don’t know why that is. (and I promise I don’t wear major push up bras)

5. I don’t know how to drive a stick shift. Mr.D tried to teach me, but I absolutely suck at it. Let’s just say there was many tears involved.

6. I have no middle name and my two brothers have the same middle name. Random, I know.

I can’t think of a seventh random thing, so I will end it there. I nominate: